Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski knows Andrew Wiggins, his Blue Devils faced off against Wiggins’ Jayhawks this past season. Krzyzewski also knows Kevin Love, who has been part of the Team USA program and will be again this summer when USA Basketball opens training camp in Las Vegas.

“There’s absolutely not one second of hesitancy. I’d trade for Kevin Love,” Coach K said. “That’s not saying anything bad about any of the other youngsters. Love’s an All-Star and he’s a double-double guy. But he’s a double-double guy who can spread the court. There aren’t many double-double guys who can spread the floor; he can go inside and outside. There may be a low post player that gets you a double double, but Love, you can do a lot of different things with him….

“I’ve coached him on two teams, and no pun intended, I love Kevin Love,” he said. “You look at LeBron, and you have the best player in the world. He’s 29, I’m not saying he’s at the end of his career, but he’s in the second-half of his career. And in the first half of his career he was becoming a great player. It took time, just like with Andrew Wiggins, it takes time. LeBron is a great player right now, you do not want to waste any year of a great player’s career. Love is close to being that. He’s not as great a player as LeBron, but he’s there. You know who Love is right now.”

This has always been the key argument for the pro-Love camp — Love is an elite player right now and plays a position who would complement LeBron James’ game. With LeBron on board Cleveland is a win-now team and Love helps you do that.

There have been mixed reports about whether Wiggins has even been offered up for Love in a trade. The latest report via the News Herald is that he has not been, although not formally being offered and discussions taking place are different things. Also, how much are LeBron and his core group pushing for a Love deal and how much is the rest of the Cavaliers front office pushing back?

How does Wiggins feel about all this?

“I let my agent and my support system handle that, I just love playing the game of basketball and I know the NBA is a business….” Wiggins told PBT Friday night in Las Vegas at Summer League, adding he is not worried about the rumors. “No. I just play basketball man wherever I go.”

One other note here: The Cavaliers would be foolish to give up Wiggins and not demand from Love that he opt-in to the final year of his deal. This is what Chris Paul did for the Clippers. If Wiggins is now or will be in play, that’s a massive asset to give up and they need some assurance he is not going to go Dwight Howard and bolt after one season. Yes, Love’s people have said he would like to play with LeBron and would re-sign, but then Howard’s people said he was likely to re-sign at the start of that Lakers season. Things can change. If Love will not opt in for Cleveland or anyone (because he wants to be a free agent and be recruited) he dramatically lowers what teams will over for him. And if you are Minnesota, the bad offers will be there in February at the trade deadline, no reason for Flip Saunders to rush.

Agree totally. The point being made by Krzyzewski is very logical. He’s not questioning the potential of Wiggins at all, but if you brought LeBron back to win it all in the next 4 years then Love helps those chances much more than Wiggins would. Even if he does develop steadily, he won’t compliment Lebrons game as much as Love would right now.

No matter how gifted LeBron is, he’s 30 and in 5 years he WILL start to regress. They all do. They need impact right now.

As LeBron himself has said multiple times, “Father time is undefeated.”
Also, LeBron has been remarkably durable throughout his career for a wing player who draws plenty of contact. He’s suffered 2 broken noses and has been sidelined by cramps 3 times in his career, and that’s his complete injury history other than a couple of minor ankle sprains per season.

I like Wiggins, but he wasn’t consistently dominant in college, and he wasn’t consistently dominant in summer league either. He’s not making an All-NBA team in year 1, so the question then becomes how long will it take for him to become a top level performer, and will LeBron still be an MVP-caliber player by the time Wiggins gets there.

I’d trade for Love rather than pin all of my hopes on LeBron avoiding any injuries or athletic decline over the next 3-4 years as Wiggins develops.

I’m still trying to figure out why people believe this is a “no brainer” to win now. Love is injury-prone and though he would appear to be the perfect fit for LeBron, this isn’t necessarily the Heat’s system, though they will obviously try to mimic some things. But the fact is, Bosh played the 5 then still. Are they gonna throw out the occasional line-up with Love at the 5, LeBron or some other floor stretcher at the 4, LeBron or Waiters/Miller at the 3, Waiters/Miller at the 2 and Irving at the 1? Tissue paper defense that will get diced up, all day. Play a traditional style O with Love at the 4 and LeBron at the 3, with Thompson or Varejao at the 5? Kills the spacing and defense is still suspect. Who’s gonna fill out their bench if they trade Wiggins/Bennett and Waiters is now a starter. Mike Miller and Tristan Thompson and… who? A bunch of unprovens? How is this team a winner, NOW?

Your points are valid. Love is a known commodity due to having an NBA resume. While your accurately point out how his weaknesses could make the Cavs vulnerable you fail to acknowledge that Wiggins is all hypothetical potential. His weaknesses at an NBA level are not yet known. Hard to account for that.

He may very well be a better player then Love… in 3-5 years. No guarantee he will be but you CAN guarantee it will take at least that long for him to develop.

Is Love the better player now? Yes.
Is LeBron getting younger? No.

bkbell3 - Jul 21, 2014 at 8:39 PM

Bird played with 3 other hall of famers in the chief,dennis johnson, mchale. Magic played with jabbar, worthy and a host of great role players in guys like cooper and didn’ bob macadoo the former scoring champ play with them also.mj had pippen, rodman and a host of great shooters and role players that they reloaded with every year. etc. etc.

Kobe’s last two championship there were no all-stars on his team from that year either. Pau made the all star game the year after when they lost in the playoffs, but he wasn’t an all star up to that point.

Coach K is, arguably, as good as any coach at any level in basketball. And no, I’m not a Duke fan. I just have enormous respect for him because he was able to pull together all those egomaniacs and make them actually play like a TEAM, let alone his college record, which speaks for itself. He knows skill sets and he knows the game. If he says trade Wiggins for Love, I’m all over it if I’m the Cavs’ GM.

But I never said he didn’t have Hall of Fame talent. I said that we cannot call him a “future Hall of Famer” right now, which is unequivocally true.

You can only call him a future Hall of Famer if you add conditions… i.e. “IF he does this, this and this he will eventually make it to the Hall of Fame.”

Our discussion the other day was about some guy saying he was already a future Hall of Famer – as if it was a guarantee. I ended the discussion by saying it would’ve been more appropriate to say Love had Hall of Fame caliber talent.

ProBasketballPundit - Jul 21, 2014 at 6:49 PM

No sh**, sherlock. To be eligible for the Hall of Fame you have to have played 400 games.

It’s Not about being the Best Player Now. Cavs aren’t winning the Finals next year, w/ w/o KLove. But in 2years. That’s the ??? And again I’m a person who believes that If KLove is that transcending of a player. Why has he NEVER been to The Playoffs. At least the First Round. They are making seem like KLove is the next best thing since sliced bread. Even Melo Made it to the First Round. And he gets Killed at ever turn about his game. Ijs

I think the Cavs will at least be in the Finals in 2014-15 if they have Love. They might get there without Love. And depending on the matchup in the Finals they could win the whole thing.

About not making the playoffs – MJ’s Bulls won 38, 30 and 40 games in his first three seasons and they made the playoffs in each of those years. The Wolves won 31 and 40 games the last two years, but no playoffs. Hey, maybe Love should’ve played in the East in 1986 – he would’ve been to the postseason a few times already.

If the Wolves were in the East , they would’ve been a top 3 or 4 seed last year. Their record playing in the West would’ve gotten them in. If they played all of those crappy East teams instead of all the good West teams, they would’ve won over 50 games. Melo snuck into the playoffs in the crappy East. Put the Knicks in the West and they finish as one of the bottom 3 or 4 teams. Facts matter.

The Wolves would’ve made the playoffs in the East with their current record playing against good Western Conference teams. If they played in the East they would’ve won over 50 games and been a top 3 or 4 seed. The poster was talking about Melo at least making the playoffs. I pointed out that he did that in the East. Put that Knicks team in the West and they finish at the bottom of the conference. Reading comprehension is a wonderful thing. Try it out sometime.

mogogo1 - Jul 21, 2014 at 5:24 PM

I don’t know how great sliced bread is in your book, but Love is coming off averaging 26 points and 12 boards per game. You think those numbers were somehow holding his teammates back and preventing them from making the playoffs?

One thing about this story I don’t understand is love for Klay Thomson. If I’m the Warriors, I am working for three way deal, Cleveland gets Love, Min gets Thomson and I get Wiggins and drop a bad contract. The floor for Wiggins is a much cheaper version of Igudola and at best one of the top wings in the game. Plus they might be able to get Waiters who would cheaper than Thompson and same court production.

The Cavs need to make sure they do this right, because I’m sure LeBron is watching this closely. LeBron also values the opinion of Coach K. Although I do understand the Cavs not wanting to leverage their future for LeBron. This is very interesting, I would like to hear from some Cleveland Cavs fans on what they think. Should the Cavs leverage their future for Kevin Love, and try to win now. Or go forward with their current roster, and gamble to see if Minnesota hedges their bet?

How are they leveraging their future for Love? They’d be trading 1 of their 3 mediocre 1st round picks. A player who looked absolutely awful last year and a player who’s never played a minute in the NBA. Wiggins might turn out to be great but nobody really knows. They trade that for Love who’s 25 not 35. He’s just entering his prime and since his game isn’t purely based on athleticism, he could be great for another 10 years or so.

Would you rather have a chance for a title (or 2 or 3) in the next three years, or build for the future and hope to just get to the Finals in 3 years? As a fan, I’d rather have a title or two and 10 years of suck instead of 10-15 years of pretty good ball but never truly competing for a title. You play to win the title, not to have a solid regular season record and go home before the Finals.

Ask Chuck, the Mailman, or a handful of others if they would have rather had a title and a few years of suck instead of being pretty good without a title.

When has Kevin Love become such a great, must-have player? I mean, he’s good, but to give up a potentially great franchise player for Love? Love is a one way player that put up some great numbers on a bad team. I’ve seen this act before. As fans of the NBA, I’m sure we could all acknowledge that in the post season, a key player who plays no Defense will be exposed in the post season. So the Cavs make it to the playoffs and maybe (a long shot) to the finals. What does that get Lebron? Another loss in the Finals? Love provides spacing and rebounds. You can acquire shooting and rebounds cheaper and keep what should be at the minimum, great defensive talent on the team.

What? Even you were questioning Love as a franchise player this past year because he’s never made the playoffs. Even Minnesota seemingly(and questionably) didn’t want to make Love a franchise player his first two seasons.

Love is very skilled but his stats and PER are inflated. I’d keep Wiggins and the flexibility you have with his contract and the depth they’d keep.

Also you have to remember the Cavs do not have Lebron’s bird rights. If he opts out next season they need to have max cap space to offer him a max contract.

Well, Pippen was a much better/more valuable player than Love at least IMO.

Love would be great next to Lebron, no doubt. I just think people are underestimating the value of good(and maybe great with Wiggins) players on rookie contracts. Plus Wiggins is a much more “Pippen”ish player. In that Wiggins could guard the opposing team’s best player in the regular season. Offensively Kyrie and Lebron can carry the load with some contributions from Wiggins, Thompson/Bennett, and guys like Mike Miller off the bench, etc.

Pippen is certainly a better all-around player when you consider defense, but Love is also fantastic at what he does… which is score, rebound and pa.ss.

Love already has more 30-10-5 games in his career than Pippen. 13 to 10. And he racked up those 13 just in the last three seasons. Pippen played 17 years and only did it 10 times.

Love is also climbing up the 25-15-5 charts. He’s done it 10 times in the last three seasons. LeBron has played 11 seasons and has only done that 7 times. Patrick Ewing has only done that 3 times in his entire career. Pippen did it 4 times.

Love is a special talent that needs to be in the right situation – he’s not some average star. Or as John Lennon would’ve said, “Love is real, real is Love.”

Love is very expensive. McDonald’s sees a lot more action than The French Laundry. If the price for Love wasn’t so high they’d see more offers. Add to that the fact that he’ll only sign with a handful of clubs and that whittles the group of potential suitors down even further.

That also negatively affects his trade value. The less competition for love the less his value is. Why should the Cavs start adding more pieces when there aren’t better offers on the table just because the Twolves want more but aren’t getting that same value in other offers?

You can indeed acquire shooting and rebounds. But, it will take you 2-4 guys to get the production you would get from Love. Simple math tells you that getting it from one player instead of the aggregate totals of multiple players is better.

Simple math also says 5mil(quality shooter) + 3mil(quality rebounder)< 18mil(Kevin Love). Also, K. Love can basically dictate his next team. He just has to indicate to any twolves trade partners, besides Cleveland, he won't be re-signing with them. ala Nuggets carmelo.

jimeejohnson - Jul 22, 2014 at 3:59 AM

The second you mention aggregate totals it’s no longer simple math for math dummies like me!

mogogo1 - Jul 21, 2014 at 7:33 PM

Who are we imagining as being a potential franchise player here? Because if that’s the expectation for Wiggins, I’m afraid you’ll likely be disappointed. He’s going to make some great plays because he’s a phenomenal athlete. But he’s very rough offensively. If I were to bet, I’d say Wiggins never puts an offensive game together where he can lead a team in scoring, which would be expected if he was going to earn the label “franchise player.” Don’t get me wrong– I really like Wiggins’ upside and wouldn’t give him away for just anybody But don’t confuse him with a polished NBA star, which is what Love is.

No offense intended towards Coach K, but why should we pay so much attention to what he says about the PRO game, when he’s never been a coach or GM at that level?

The landscape is liberally littered with high-profile college coaches who bombed at the pro level (Pitino, Calipari, etc.) and vice versa. Being an expert and/or a success at one doesn’t mean you know diddly about the other.

Pitino and Calipari really didn’t have good talent to win. The NBA is a players league. Coaches can only do so much. There is so much talent on some teams even the best coaches can’t win without somewhat equal talent. Like Pitino said, “Larry Bird ain’t walking through that door”. When it has do with basketball, you listen to coach K.

Is acquiring Love without giving up Wiggins completely out of the question? I’m sure, at least at the moment, the T’Wolves are demanding Wiggins(and they should) but the Cavs have quite a few 1st round picks they could package and trade plus a combination of young players like Tristan, Bennett, and Waiters. If they don’t work out a deal now I’m sure a combination of picks and the players above would be more appealing near the trade deadline especially if other teams aren’t offering the Twolves what they want.

all of those will be low first round pics, which makes them essentially worthless. thats what i don’t understand about all the people who say wiggins, bennett and a first rounder is so over the top. if it is the 24th pick in the first round it could be a guy that doesn’t even make the roster year two. bennett will likely be serviceable, so to me that trade is a heck of a deal for the cavs.

It would be more complicated if they didn’t give up Wiggins, of course, and it would likely involve a third team.

It’s unlikely and it would have to take the TWolves going for a total youth rebuild, the Warriors not upping their offer, and nobody else stepping up by the trade deadline with another attractive deal.

jkfargo - Jul 21, 2014 at 10:52 PM

The Cavs could get Love without giving up Wiggins. Kyrie and Lebron for Love and Rubio sounds about right.

I appreciate the sarcasm. I guess I’m not nearly as high on Kevin Love as most people are. He hasn’t been able to even get his team to the playoffs. They’ve dealt with injuries(Love being a big part of that) but they’ve had enough talent to make the playoffs if Love is really a franchise player.

I wouldn’t trade Wiggins for Love. Tell LeBron to deal with it. Does anyone think LeBron can ever leave Cleveland again? I’m reading that letter and in between LeBron talking about the children and business in Cleveland, I don’t see any mention of wanting to be the highest paid athlete or the team has to trade for the players I want. If Cleveland keeps Wiggins, honestly what is LeBron going to do? Is he going to leave in 2 years, again? He painted himself into a corner, he just doesn’t know it yet.

He’s not exactly demanding they sign his buddy from high school who was playing down at the local Y. He thinks an All-Star who can average 26 and 12 might be a better piece of a title team in the next year or two than a kid with tons of potential but almost no polish to any part of his game. Hard to argue with that reasoning… which is why Coach K said what he said.

Newsflash. Love won’t be averaging 26 and 12 if he goes to the Cavs. Maybe 17 and 10. He took almost 20 shots a game to get those numbers. Think he’ll get that many touches with ball dominant players like Irving and James?

jkfargo - Jul 21, 2014 at 11:15 PM

Newsflash, Love will average well over 20 with the Cavs. Love took less than 19 shots and averaged over 26 points. Love averaged one more shot a game more than Kyrie Irving, but averaged 6 more points a game. Love was top 10 in 3’s and free throws made and he can score everywhere on the floor. Love averaged over 7 more points than shot attempts last season, only Lebron, Durant, and Harden were better. Even if his shot attempts drop to 15, he will still likely average well over 20 due to his ability to hit the 3, get to the line and crash the boards. Love is an elite NBA scorer.

mvp43 - Jul 21, 2014 at 3:27 PM

LeBron has 5 prime years left. Adding Love could bring Cleveland 3 championships. This is a no brainer.

Wiggins has potential for sure, but to say that you can’t trade the overall #1 pick is crazy. Had Embiid not been injured, He would’ve beeen picked 1 and Wiggins goes Philly at 3. With that scenario, Love stays in Minnesota.

Yep, Coach K,snug in his Duke empire really knows how to build NBA franchises. No idea why he thinks a PF compliments James, but I’m sure his views are skewed watching Olympians run up and down the court. College security is not the same a NBA security, jobs and spots are not guaranteed for life. You also can’t recruit every year to replace a less talented guy or load up on freshmen blue chippers. It’s not a straight one for one trade, Minnesota is asking for a lot. A lot that will set the team back in the future.

Because ANY player complements LeBron James. Kevin Love isn’t the sudden missing piece to his game. Every player James has played with has meshed with his talent. He dragged bench players to the finals and he took All-Stars to championships. Saying Love complements him doesn’t make sense. If he said that Love is a guaranteed 20/10 guy with LeBron, I’d buy it, but Love already established he can produce without all-star help and so has James.

I like bosh but by your theory didn’t bosh put up good stats on a bad team, didn’t kg put up good stats on a bad team? He also plays in the loaded west and bosh played in toronto in the crap east. Also if minn. center and other guys including love didn’t get hurt minn. had a good chance to make the playoffs. Their center was averaging 16.5 and 11.

Also the theory of someone on a bad team has to get points and rebounds is ok, maybe. But when has someone on a bad team put up 26 and 12 with the third highest per in the league? You have to remember teams have to game plan for him and he is carrying a big load banging inside all game long and that has to take a toll on the other side of the ball.

It’s not so cut and dry. What positions are the top scorers in today’s game? It’s the 2 guard and a SF position. LJ can shut down most small forwards. Wiggins can do the same for 2 guards. In transition there won’t be many teams that can prevent Irving, LJ, and Wiggins on the break. The days of LJ being doubled are over because Wiggins and Irving can finish and he hasn’t had two guys like that his whole career. Plus…Wiggins in better than everyone is giving him credit for. The kid went to the line 20 times his last Summer league game. That’s insane. It means the one flaw people pointed out about him..aggressiveness…is not really a factor and was a result of the way they used him at Kansas more than his skill set. His shot is not an issue. Sorry, but it’s just something the talking heads are all agreeing about but he’s a better shooter with more range than LJ was when he entered the league.

So I ask you. If Wiggins (with LJ help as a teammate) can be a lockdown defensive SG who can get you 15, 6, 5 as a 19 y/o you don’t keep him?

If you believe Wiggins has a poor man’s Lebron upside in 2-3 years, do you trade him for Love, a stat sheet filler from a bad team? It’s really not a no brainer.

All I know is you better trade for AW before the season starts because if you allow CLE to see him play alongside LJ for even a week there is no way LJ would want him traded. Especially if LJ in his heart, plans to play out his career in CLE. The energy AW brings and the ability to be a mentor will be too enticing to give up on